Second Generation Tails
by Master of the A.U. Fanfiction
Summary: Summer 2026: Meet fourteen year olds, Brooke Dove, Tempest Bennett, Stormi Benjamin, and Raine McCartney.
1. Chapter 1

**Second Generation Tails**

**Summary:**

**Summer 2026: Meet fourteen year olds, Brooke Dove, Tempest Bennett, Stormi Benjamin, and Raine McCartney.**

**A/N: this is just an adoption of the original story by Kathryn Claire O'Connor.**

* * *

May 23, 2026

Emma Dove walked into the café; it was called "Rikki's" now, with a secretive smile on her face. Neither Cleo nor Rikki knew she had come back to the Gold Coast. Much less that she had met back up with – and married – Ash Dove, while on her travels. And that had been years ago. She had two children now, a fourteen-year-old daughter, Brooke, and a fifteen-year-old son, Andrew.

"You look like you're on a mission. Are you here to apply for the position?" a haggard-looking blonde woman came up to her and asked.

"Well, actually…" Emma stopped and took in the woman, and the awfully busy café. She could see Rikki and Zane running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to keep up with the business. It was the first Saturday after summer break and they needed help."I'd be glad to help."

"God bless you, sweet lady!" the blonde called out in jest. "Let's get you an apron. Rikki! I found some help for the afternoon!"

"Great!" Rikki called back, barely glanced up from the cash register.

Emma soon settled back into the familiar old rhythm. Memories came at her from all sides as she worked. Not long after she'd gotten there, Ash came in, probably looking for her. He raised an eyebrow and she shrugged in response, a smile on her face. Ash shook his head and approached Zane. She watched out of the corner of her eye as they greeted each other and talked for a minute. Then Ash, too, pulled on an apron and set to work.

When everything finally slowed down, Emma introduced herself to the blonde-haired woman who had given her the job, the only person working that Emma didn't recognize.

"I'm Emma Dove."

"Isabella Benjamin. My friends call me Bella. You're really good at this – working here. You should consider doing it full-time."

"I don't think so. I have two kids at home; we're just starting to unpack from our move…"

"Of course. I understand. Welcome to the neighborhood. How old are your kids? Maybe they'll be in some of Stormi and Eric's classes. Those are my kids."

Before Emma could answer, someone, possibly Cleo, came in. "The crew plus two is behind me." Cleo said as if it were a warning.

"Rikki's in the back room." Bella said over her shoulder.

Yep, that was Cleo disappearing into the back. Emma noticed a band on her left ring finger. She was betting her money on Lewis being the lucky man to put it there.

Again, before a word could be exchanged between Emma and Bella, customers came in, "the crew", Emma assumed. They were a swarm of teenagers. Emma spotted Brooke and Andrew among them. They were the plus two, she guessed. The other kids filed by the counter, asking for their usuals.

"Mum," a couple of tall blonde-haired, blue-eyed kids introduced Brooke and Andrew to Bella.

"I'm Emma Dove, their mother." Emma introduced herself.

"I'm Eric." The boy replied.

"And I'm Stormi." Said his sister.

As Bella handed out the teens' orders, she introduced them one by one. Oddly enough, it was always a fifteen-year-old boy and a fourteen-year-old girl. Cleo's kids, they had to be by the looks of them, were Raine and Liam McCartney. So Emma had been right, Cleo had married Lewis. What floored her though were Tempest and Zack – Bennett.

"As in Zane Bennett?" Emma asked, once the raven-haired siblings were out of earshot.

"Yeah. He's right over there." She pointed to where he and Ash were talking to the kids. Do you know him?"

"Yeah. Um, who is his wife?" Emma was hesitant to hear the answer.

"Is someone asking for me?" Rikki emerged from the back room with Cleo, looking much calmer then she had when Emma first came in.

"I was telling Emma here about our kids." Bella answered, as Emma turned her back to her old friends, wanting to shock them in her own time.

"Emma?" both Cleo and Rikki said at the same time. Emma could tell they wanted to know if she was "their" Emma.

"Nice necklace." Cleo said slowly, referring to Ms. Chattum's old locket that she still wore.

"I like it." Emma said, turning around to face them.

"EMMA!" they both screamed, diving for her.

Bella jumped back at the noise. When Cleo and Rikki had finally released Emma, Bella asked cautiously, "An old friend?"

"Oh, you have no idea!" Rikki declared.

"We'll tell you both everything." Cleo decided. "Hey, wait a second!" Cleo picked up Emma's left hand, clearly indicating her wedding ring.

"Ash." Emma confirmed. "And then came Andrew and Brooke."

"The plus two." Cleo laughed.

Emma nodded.

"Brooke." Bella said slowly. "Plus Stormi."

"And Raine." Cleo added.

"And Tempest." Rikki finished.

"Weird." Emma said, sure that she would have a good laugh about it later with Rikki and Cleo.

"Everybody, in the office, now!" Rikki ordered. "Do you have everything under control in here, babe?" she asked Zane.

Zane waved her off. "The old manager and I can close up."

Rikki nodded and grabbed Emma by the hand, practically dragging her back into the office. Cleo did the same with Bella. Emma barely noticed the odd looks and eye-rolls they were getting from their children.

Once she had closed the door behind the four of them, Rikki exclaimed, "Boy, have we got a boatload of catching up to do!"

"The first order of business," Cleo decided. "Emma is a mermaid too, Bella, like us."

"I thought maybe you were." Bella said. "There was just this, I don't know…"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

May 31, 2026

"…Connection." Stormi finished, folding herself onto Tempest's bed as Tempest closed the bedroom door behind Brooke and Raine.

"Make yourself comfortable, Brooke." Tempest offered as she and Raine flopped down beside Stormi.

"It sounds like our parents are going to be down there for a while." Raine added.

Brooke sat down sideways on a rolling chair. "I know. It's weird, right?"

"It's like we've known each other for forever." Tempest added. "That sounds sappy."

"Maybe it's because of our parents. They've known each other since way before we were born." Stormi reasoned.

"And we're so close in age." Raine added. "I mean, we were born just months apart. Me in May, Stormi in June, Brooke in July, and Tempest in August."

"Plus we all have fifteen year old brothers." Stormi continued.

"Add to all that our 'water' names. That's coincidence enough to be on the weird side. Don't you think?" Tempest asked slowly.

"Maybe." Brooke said with a shrug of her shoulders. "But Mum says she was really close to your mums growing up. That's probably all it is."

The topic soon turned to other things, such as summer vacation plans and boys, and the girls talked for a long half hour.

"Hey, do you guys want to go out?" Tempest asked after a while. "We could take my dad's boat. I have got to do something or I'm going to go nuts."

"You're all ready there." Stormi told her.

Tempest threw a pillow at her. "Come on, guys, let's go!"

"Fine." Raine said, launching off the bed.

The other girls were right behind her. They were out of the bedroom and down the stairs like a stampede of elephants in less than thirty seconds.

"Hey, where are you going?" Cleo asked as the girls started for the door.

"Can we borrow the boat, Dad?" Tempest asked as the girls skidded to a stop.

"All right." Zane decided. "I want boat and girls back no different than when you left, though."

"Sure. No problem. Thanks, Dad."

And they were off and away.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Speaking of water," Emma asked once the girls were out the door. "With everything you just told me happened since I left, how is the moon pool? Mako Island?"

"It seems to have actually repaired itself." Lewis said. "It's weird."

"It is the crystals." Will said. "That's how. I'm sure of it."

"So do you know if there have been any new mermaids?" Emma asked.

"None that we know of." Rikki said.

"I wonder if the moon pool's even capable of that anymore." Cleo added thoughtfully.

"I don't know." Lewis said. "And truthfully, I hope not. I've served my time."

"I guess we'll never know." Bella added.

* * *

"So what are we supposed to do out here?" Tempest asked as the boat rocked along with the girls in it.

"Don't look at me." Raine said. "It was your idea to come out here in the first place.

"Ooh, I know." Stormi said. "We can go to Mako. It's supposed to be really spooky at night."

And away they went once again, without a second thought.

* * *

"Let's go further inland." Tempest suggested as she and Raine pulled the boat onto the sand. "We brought torches, so there's no reason we couldn't explore a little."

"It's getting late, and dark." Brooke voiced her concerns. "Will we have time to get back before our parents start worrying?"

Tempest rolled her eyes as Stormi dug out the torches. "What sort of teenagers would we be if we didn't cause our parents a little worry every now and then?"

"Good ones." Raine mumbled under her breath, accepting the torch Stormi offered to her.

"Let's go then. Forward march!" Tempest said, leading the way into the woods.

As the girls kept on, sometimes Raine stumbled along the way.

"Just be more careful and watch where you're going." Stormi advised from ahead of Raine.

"I'm trying! But it's dark and where am I supposed to point my torch? If not at where I'm going, I'll hit my head on a tree branch or something. If not at my feet, then I trip over something or catch my foot in a hole."

Just as she was finishing her sentence, Tempest yelped from the front of the line. The others looked around to see where she was, but she had seemingly disappeared.

"Tempest?" Brooke called out after a moment.

"I'm down here. In the hole."

"Hole?" Stormi asked, pointing her torch in the direction of her friend's voice. "Okay, I see it. Over here guys." She waved Raine and Brooke forward and they came to all stand around the hole.

Raine shined her light down inside the hole at Tempest. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, just get that light out of my eyes."

"Oh, sorry."

"Can you climb back out?" Brooke asked.

"It's too steep." Tempest replied after trying a couple of times.

Stormi circled the hole, obviously thinking of ways to get Tempest out.

"There's a rope in the boat right?" Raine spoke up at last.

"I'll go get it." Stormi said.

But she wasn't paying attention. She tripped over a tree root, and the next thing she knew she was lying in the dirt beside Tempest. "Ow!"

"Great…" Tempest groaned. "Brooke, can you go get the rope? I don't trust Raine not to break something if she tries."

"All right." Brooke started off across the unfamiliar landscape, muttering murderous thoughts towards Tempest.

This was all her fault after all. Well, Stormi had been the one to suggest Mako, so maybe it was her fault. It didn't really matter right now anyway.

She eventually found the rope and made her way back to the girls – well the hole. She couldn't see Raine.

"Raine?" Brooke called out.

Raine's answer came miserably from the same hole that held Stormi and Tempest captive. "I tripped."

Brooke crouched down beside the hole and shined her torch down on the three friends she had made. "What did you-"

"Watch out!" All three of the other girls cried out as Brooke teetered on the edge, and, of course, fell straight down into the hole.

"No!" Tempest exploded, pounding her fist into the dirt. "NO! NO! NO!"

"How are we supposed to get out now?" Stormi groaned, voicing all their thoughts aloud.

"Wait," Raine said, easing up off the ground. "Isn't that tarter on the edge of the pool?"

"What does that help us unless we have fish sticks to go with them?" Tempest snapped.

"Not that kind, silly." Raine rolled her eyes. "It means a tide."

"Which means it's connected to the ocean." Stormi added, catching on.

"Which means there may be a way out." Brooke was the one to get to the point. "Let's go!"

The girls all dove in without a second thought. They each surfaced, pushing hair and water out of their face.

"Hey, guys…" Raine looked down at the water in the pool as it started to bubble.

The others noticed and their gazes wondered upward as flickers of lights, like fireflies, seemed to emerge from the water around them.

It was over in a minute and they turned back to the subject at hand.

"Let's get out of here." Stormi said, taking the lead and diving underwater.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four**

"Where have you guys been?" Cleo jumped on the girls as the front door slammed behind them. "And why are you all wet?"

"We just went for a swim." Raine answered. "We're sorry if we worried you."

"We must have lost track of the time." Tempest added, before the girls all barreled back into her bedroom, slamming the door behind them.

"Why did you lie to her?" Brooke asked.

"You're right. It was totally unnecessary. It's always a great idea to tell a mom that you went swimming in shark-infested waters!" Tempest snapped.

"You know, you're not the nicest person in the world. You know that right?" Brooke replied. "Remind me why I'm friends with you again?"

"Because you two have so much in common." Raine squeaked, not wanting to see a full-blown argument.

"Really?" Tempest asked sarcastically. "I have nothing in common with her. Nothing!"

"I'm sure we could find something if we looked." Stormi put it. What she murmured under her breath was, "Eventually."


End file.
